Jobs you can get after studying chemical engineering
By Nikhlesh Mathur
A Chemical Engineer who steps out of his college holding chemical engineering degree in his hands usually has half a dozen plans floating in his mind . These plans mostly are the ones that he/she gets pushed into rather than the ones he is interested in walking into.
The kind of job you tend to get after completing a graduation course in chemical engineering is at the shop floor of a process plant which is manufacturing a chemical or an allied product. If the process industry is a not a giant industry like petrochemicals, refinery, fertilizer industry , heavy chemical industries etc then a fresh chemical engineer may be asked to supervise the operation from an overall perspective and guide the shift chemists who in that case could be science graduates or may be having even lesser qualification.
But most industries prefer fresh chemical engineers to control the manufacturing operation in a process plant in shifts as Shift Incharges. Large industrial houses appoint fresh chemical engineers in shifts to monitor the continuous process.
A fresh chemical engineer many find it odd to begin with as he/she has to then tackle the experiences workers of the plant and it becomes a herculean task to ask them to work or even guide them. This urges them to develop their own man-management skills. Often the elderly workmen develop a kind of affection with the fresh chemical engineers and in their own language & communication system are able to explain them as to where they need to look and where not to. Fresh chemical engineers can really learn a lot from such workers as it is only they would be able to tell them how much a valve needs to be open to maintain a flow rate in a pipeline which does not have any measuring instrument fitted in it.
Fresh chemical engineers also find reasonably good openings in the IT sector primarily because of the logical reasoning that they develop during their education and also because of the fact the chemical engineering education is a mix of other engineering disciplines also and hence a chemical engineer is considered to be like jack of all trades. The resume of several managers in the IT field speak of them being chemical engineers.
Chemical engineers also get opportunities in the Marketing field because they are considered to be able to speak about several products.
Chemical engineers can have a good career beginning with the statutory boards such as the Pollution control Board, where-in they are involved in the aspects related to water chemistry, the purification and environment control.
Project consultancy services are always on the look- out of fresh chemical engineers as they can grasp the requirements of a project pretty fast and are able to work at the project sites at all odd hours.
The following chart will help the fresh chemical engineers in preparing themselves for career in the chemical engineering or related field:
| Industry |
Kind of job / work area |
Position / Designation |
What Fresh Chemical Engineer should ALSO focus on the job for enhancing his/her knowledge / experience / Value |
| Refinery / Giant scale chemical manufacturing Industry (example : Heavy chemicals, petrochemicals) |
The job here mostly production oriented with focus on supervision of operation in a shift. Candidates are required to supervise the operation, check the log books, co-ordinate timely with the Maintenance team |
Jr. Engineer / Chemical Engineer/ Shift Engineer / Assistant Engineer / Production Engineer |
Giant scale industries have modern equipments from several suppliers’, and such equipment are also specifically designed for the specific unit operation. Fresh chemical engineers need to study all such special equipment in detail, learn about the Suppliers / designers/ fabricators and try to think of them being used elsewhere in other unit operations also with minor changes. They should also focus on handling large volumes of chemicals specially their storage systems. In such giant industries there is lot of opportunities to learn about Safety, about which one is not able to learn that much in a smaller industry. Giant scale industries have large workforce of varying age groups. Fresh chemical engineers should try to find out that with which age group of workers / other employees they are able to mix well professionally. This would help them in choosing jobs in a better way later in their career.
|
| Medium scale chemical manufacturing unit (Example: Fine chemicals) |
The job here is generally Production oriented, but with the addition of other duties also such as charge of individually controlling a major unit operation or a group of operations. In such industries the fresh chemical engineers (because they are comparatively lesser in number in such an industry) are also given the responsibility beyond production. It could be Packing & Dispatch operation, Raw material control, responsible for safety etc.
|
Production Superintendent / Assistant Manager |
A medium scale industry is the best place to focus on the entire operations rather than getting confined to your listed job responsibilities. Fresh chemical engineers need to indulge in all activities (with the permission of their Incharges) and try to give their inputs in a respectful manner. In such medium scale industries they can make their presence felt in the organization in a better manner and that opens a wider scope for them later in that job itself. This is also a place there they need to learn non-technical aspects of manufacturing industry. |
| Small scale chemical manufacturing unit (Example: Fine chemicals) |
The job here for fresh chemical engineers is more like an Incharge of the Works with authority limited to production , maintenance, dispatches and coordinating with statutory authorities. |
Deputy Manager (Technical), Incharge-Works, Production Superintendent, Technical Officer. |
This the best place for fresh Chemical Engineers to develop in them the managerial abilities early in their career and the ability to get things done at the shop floor by themselves actively participating in them in the most active manner. This is a good place to learn the administrative & commercial jobs related to chemical industries. A short stint in such an industry is better if the candidate is able to do admin + commercial jobs by own hands such as making invoice, filling the statutory returns, dealing individually with the statutory authorities, learning from the Govt officials about the basic statutory requirements for running a chemical plant, learning from Suppliers by calling them for technical discussion before purchases and attempting negotiations to save the cost to the company. Such an industry can help a candidate the method to run the show as a single authority.
|
| Pharmaceutical industries |
This would be related to direct production at the shop floor and/or Quality control, and/or Quality Assurance |
Production Engineer, Quality control Engineer, Quality Assurance Officer, Supply-chain officer |
Fresh chemical engineers should focus on learning about the various pharmaceutical regulations in such an industry i.e. to learn about IP (Indian Pharmacopoeia), BP (British Pharmacopoeia), USP (US Pharmacopoeia), JP, EP etc. They need to focus on the utility of the bulk drugs / formulated products made. Such industries are the best to learn about technical and system Audits. Training is an extremely essential operation in pharmaceutical units. Fresh chemical engineers should never lose any opportunity for getting trained, and rather should focus on attending more & more trainings / presentations / Lectures. etc. If an opportunity comes they should give presentations themselves.
|
| Design & Consultancy business enterprises |
This would involve working in an office for designing equipment / process systems as per the requirement of the Customers |
Design engineer |
This is the best place to enhance the knowledge (both theoretical & practical) of not only chemical engineering operations but also all other engineering aspects (mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, structural, civil). Candidate should go all out to learn not only from their superiors but also from the client team members. Fresh chemical engineers here should never lose any opportunity for site visit or a responsibility of being site engineers / commissioning engineer as this experience is one of a kind and is very difficult to get else- where later.
|
| Purchase deptt / Chemical Trading unit |
This job would involve purchase activities of chemicals and/or selling of chemicals. |
Purchase Engineer, Marketing Engineer |
This is the best place to learn about commercial aspects of as many chemicals as possible even if the candidates’ company is not dealing in it. Fresh chemical engineers here need to keep their focus on developing their negotiation skills and communicative abilities. They also need to learn to keep focus on the global market and the rise & fall of the prices on day to day basis.
|
| IT related field |
This job would involve making programs for clients or marketing the programs made by the IT engineers |
Systems Engineer, Marketing Engineer |
This is a place where a fresh chemical engineer can develop his/her sense of logic and give inputs for the utility of a program to the client. This would be a challenging assignment and can prepare a fresh chemical engineer for being successful in marketing.
|
| Govt. job in Pollution Control Board |
This would initially involve visiting the industries, drawing samples of the effluent, checking the air contamination, analyzing in the Govt. lab and preparing the reports about non-compliance / compliances. |
Environment Engineer |
This is a place to learn about several processes and the different modern effluent control systems in use. Fresh chemical engineers need to learn from the industries they visit about their processes (this will improve their personal knowledge), control systems, about the various raw materials, their toxicity levels and methods of preparing reports. Candidates should also try to learn about the prevailing Govt. regulations and the methods to make them work everywhere.
|
| Govt Job in Administration (such as the one which are obtained through State PSC or UPSC competitive exams) |
This kind of a job can be obtained by fresh chemical engineers only by opting for some other subject for the competitive exam because chemical engineering is not included as the optional subjects. If the candidate succeeds then he would generally be given a department related to the industries.
|
Standard designations of the Govt. sector |
The candidate should focus on the overall working system of the Govt. machinery and should try all means to develop connectivity with the various people he/she comes across professionally. Such professional relationship would go a long way in making a good career. |
| Education sector |
The job would entail working as a Lecturer in an Engineering college |
Lecturer |
For this kind of job it is essential that the candidate opt for post graduation. He may get a Lecturer’s job in a private college on adhoc basis after graduation but he would be required to do post graduation / PhD to continue the career in the education sector.
|
Special advice:
Fresh chemical engineers (graduates) should do a complete evaluation of themselves in context to the career and the kind of job they want to do, or are capable to do. They can seek help from their teachers. Parents and friends circle in knowing their abilities in context to career.
Once they evaluate themselves they can think to follow the following scheme:
- If they find themselves knowledge oriented with a flair for theoretical knowledge, new technologies, process developments then they must opt for doing M.Tech / M.E. and then proceed to make a career in either the Research field or in Education sector. They can then also opt for industries which are technically oriented and where technological developments are given more value than running the business purely on commercial terms.
- If the candidates find that they are more practically oriented and enjoy working directly for the process then it would be better if they join a process industry soon after gr4aduation and then after 3 to 5 years of relevant experience try to do MBA with specialization in Operations.
- If the candidates do not find themselves theoretically good and are not that much interested in gaining knowledge through the books and if their communicative ability is good then they can opt for a Marketing / Sales-Purchase / Supply chain type of a job. Such candidates can also opt for process industry job where-in they get to work at the shop floor.
Generally speaking it is extremely essential for chemical engineers wanting to work in process industries to pay high importance to learning the laboratory operations. A laboratory is the heart of any chemical process plant and unless a fresh chemical engineers begins taking interest in the laboratory work of his/her manufacturing company he/she will not be able to gain relevant knowledge. Laboratory analysis work and the knowledge of actual chemistry behind the reactions / analysis is the backbone of success in chemical industries.
About the author:
Nikhlesh Mathur is MBA (specialization : TQM) & a Chemical Engineer from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela. He is working in the senior management cadre in the private sector and has vast experience in the management of chemical and allied industries. He has been associated with shiksha.com since the year 2010.
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